The Sunday Night Costco Frenzy

Two Sundays ago after church, Craig and I took a risk and ventured through Sunday traffic for our semester 2 Costco run. Such a decision could be considered suicide to some, but afraid of beginning yet another week with an empty fridge and no fixings for our favorite dishes, we grabbed each other's hands and swore that we wouldn't leave the other behind.

It was not a good sign to have to wait in traffic one block away from Costco with the traffic officer walking around with a sign saying, "Costco Parking Full". As we slowly inched closer, we decided to employ the divide-and-conquer method; Craig grabbed our shopping bags and rushed the front entrance. Twenty minutes later, the parking attendant waved in Rocky (our car), and we secured a parking space. I checked my phone to see Craig's ominous message: "It is CRAZY in here."

"Oh, dear," I thought, picturing Craig like a pinball with the shopping cart, constantly cut-off by countless oblivious shoppers from the front, left, right, and from behind, bumping into his cart, running their carts into him, or, heaven forbid, grabbing the last tub of Skippy peanut butter from under his nose! "I must find him!"

Riding the escalator down to the main floor, I gasped at the sight of mayhem, not unlike a Where's Waldo puzzle - checkout lines oozing shoppers and carts all the way past the vitamin aisles, raids on the free sample tables, kids running wild, lines in the meat section waiting for bulgogi samples. And Craig... taking a break in the corner near the seafood, breathing deeply to calm the vein popping in his forehead.

No longer divided, we went into emergency grab-what-you-can mode - with Craig keeping our cart afloat amidst the sea of groceries and bodies, I weaved in and out, around, between, first to the cereals and breads, dropped them off, then back to the meat section, then the dairy, followed by the nuts and chips section. Together we then forged through the frozen foods, and ahead to the check-out. Like a well-oiled machine, I waited in line and paid for the groceries while Craig disappeared to the frenetic take-out food counter to pick up our dinner.

With a swipe of the highlighter, we were thankfully "approved" for the escalator, bypassing the elevator lines.

"We did it, Craig! We OWNED Sunday afternoon Costco! What a team!" Tears of joy and a record-time 1 hour and 20 minutes. Next week's challenge: the train station on a Saturday morning. The Gordons will OWN that, too!